Book Review: The New Geography of Capitalism: Firms, Finance, and Society by Adam D Dixon

The London School of Economics and Political Science - October 12, 2014

Reviewing a range of debates and theories across the contemporary social sciences, this book aims to show how the insights of economic geography can be usefully brought to bear in understanding current trends, and the changing relationships between global financial markets, multinational firms, and contemporary welfare states. Muireann O’Dwyer believes the book will be read with approval by many in the field of Economic Geography, but that other disciplines should also pay close attention. 

The New Geography of Capitalism: Firms, Finance, and Society. Adam D. Dixon. Oxford University Press. 2014.

These days, there is no shortage of books that set out to offer an explanation of the global economic system. Many seek to explain the steps that led to the collapse of 2008; others look forward, trying to analyse where we should go from here, focusing on ways of avoiding a similar catastrophe. Even those books which do not take the crisis as their starting point can simply not help but be influenced by it. Adam Dixon, a Senior Lecturer in Economic Geography at the University of Bristol, has written a book that seeks to explain, as the title says, The New Geography of Capitalism. It is in parts an introduction to, and defence of, the approach of Economic Geography, while in others it is a case study in the financialisation of society.
This book is an intervention in one of the key debates of global economics: is globalisation leading to a great convergence of national economies, or will the many “Varieties of Capitalism” remain diverse? By focusing on finance, in particular, Dixon aims to engage in a cross-disciplinary dialogue, bringing the perspective of Economic Geography into conversation with that of Political Economy. Within Political Economy, the literature on Varieties of Capitalism is booming. The basic argument of this approach is that despite the pressures of globalisation, the structures of national economies remain, and will continue to be, diverse. As they began from different starting points, either as liberal market economies, such as the United States or the United Kingdom, or as co-ordinated market economies, such as Austria or Sweden, different national economies respond to the forces of globalisation differently, and their adaptation does not lead to convergence, but to a variety of institutional structures. Dixon is writing from within the field of Economic Geography, and argues instead that what we are witnessing is “Variegation within Capitalism” – that is, an understanding of capitalism as a diverse, but singular, global phenomena, with an inherent and coherent logic.

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